Grootegeluk Coal Mine

The Grootegeluk Coal Mine is an open cast coal mine within the Waterberg Coalfield of the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is operated by Exxaro. The mine is from Lephalale, and employs 2,000 people.DiscoveryIn 1920, coal was found in the Ellisras Basin, but at first little was done to investigate the size of the resource. Between 1941 and 1952, 143 diamond-drill holes and two prospecting shafts were sunk to obtain a geological map of the Waterberg coalfield. In 1957 Iscor (now Mittal Steel South Africa) bought surface rights on six farms located in the coalfield. In 1973 Iscor began detailed exploration of the deposits below the farms to determine the quality and quantity of coal. In 1979 Iscor obtained the mining leases on the farms and in 1980 established the Grootegeluk Coal Mine.The mine contains semi-soft coking coal, thermal coal and metallurgical coal. There is estimated to be 2,800 Mt of accessible coal out of a total measured resource of 4,600 Mt of coal. A 19m overburden covers of usable coal, which is interspersed with three dirt bands that total in thickness. The raw coal has less than 25% of burnable substance.OperationIn 2005 the Grootegeluk open-pit colliery was the only coal operation in the Waterberg coalfield. The mine employed almost 2,000 people to produce 14.5 million tons of coal annually. Of these employees, only a very small percentage were managers, in part because of a severe shortage of management skills in South Africa. The miners blast the 15m high benches, then excavate the broken coal and truck it to the concentration plant. The mine uses trolley-assist trucks to reduce fuel and maintenance costs and increase productivity. The major fleet of 20 x Komatsu Haulpack 730E's utilize the trolley assist feature as well as a subsidiary fleet of Hitachi EH4500 and EH3500 trucks. The trolley assist trucks are powered by DC electricity from overhead catenary lines at 1200V.